The FIRM Super Body Sculpt

[Guest guest]

Well, I started my FIRM Bikini Bootcamp Rotation today! I am really excited to be doing a FIRM rotation because I've seen such great results with their workouts in the past and I really need to see them again! Today was Super Body Sculpt, led by Corley (a.k.a. Huckabee??). This was brand new to me, I ripped off the plastic today! I was missing about 8 workouts from the rotation list and decided at least 4 were ones I wanted so I used amazon and borders gift cards to get all 4 and this was one of them! This DVD is actually 3 separate workouts that you can do all together or one at a time. The DVD is chaptered with upper body, lower body, abs or whole workout. I chose to do the entire thing. Upper and lower are each 15 minute workouts and abs is 10. It actually comes out to 42 minutes total. I used 3s, 5s and 8s for upper and lower, abs only uses the fanny lifter (and you can easily use a chair or nothing at all for that one).

My weights were too light for upper so next time this comes up I'll increase. With that said, it was okay but really felt short. There are pushups off the fanny lifter (those are so much harder for me than on the floor but I did most on my toes), rows, several triceps exercises and some biceps and shoulder work. Nothing out of the ordinary and not great but not bad at all. I'll see what I think when I up the weights!

Lower body was a different story! 8s were just fine thank you for the many leg presses step ups. I was out of breath and ready for each set to end when they did but got through all of them. There were also various squats, some lunges but not a ton and in both this and the upper she varied the tempo and did pulses which added to the intensity. When this one ended I was okay with it!

Abs was hard because of having your feet up on the fanny lifter. I think I felt it sometimes more in my lower back so I'm going to have to make sure my abs are definitely tight next time through this one or just not use the fanny lifter maybe. I was still surprised when it ended and it wasn't as hard as other of their abs routines but it was enough of a challenge that I liked it. The only thing I didn't like was at the beginning, you sit on the fanny lifter and work obliques with one arm out and leaning toward that side over and over very quickly, then swtich sides and do it on the other side and do 2 sets on each side. I was dizzy by the time that ended!

Each workout has its own warmup and cool down so you can do them separately. I don't know that I necessarily needed the warmups, though each worked the areas to be emphasized in the upcoming workout, but it was nice to have the stretches at the end of each instead of waiting to stretch everything at the end.

I think this is part of the Body Sculpting Series 2, it has the giant fans on either side of the set and is probably the only set I really dislike a lot but once I'm into the workout I ignore it. I don't remember the music but it was okay. seemed a little stiff and too low key for me today but she was alright. Her cueing during the warmups seemed a bit off sometimes too but for the most part it was fine and those were short anyway. There were no combinations to remember or to be cued and she was fine the rest of the time. The weight work moved at a good pace for the most part and altogether, this was an enjoyable workout. I doubt I'd use any of the workouts separately but it is nice having that option for quick strength workouts if I want it.

This was a good, challenging enough but not overly challenging start for my FIRM rotation. I felt good when I got done; energized and happy to have gotten my workout in (especially because the kids have the day off from school and it is always difficult for me to get in my workouts when my routine is off). Tomorrow is Maximum Cardio Burn plus Abs. I'll report in again after I get that one done!